Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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80. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will outline the exact financial liability in 2013 for a person who has a second home in relation to property tax liability and non-principal private residence liability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32626/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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For 2013, a person who owns a second home will have a half year Local Property Tax (LPT) liability on their primary residence and their second home, and a €200 Non-Principal Private Residence Charge (NPPR Charge) on their second home (non-principal private residence).

The NPPR Charge, which is a matter for my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, is an annual charge of €200 introduced by the Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, as amended by the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011. It applies to a residential property which is not used as the owner’s sole or main residence, with limited exemptions. Liability to pay the NPPR Charge is determined on the basis of ownership of the property in question on the "liability date", which is 31 March for 2013.

A liability to LPT is based on the chargeable value (market value) of a residential property on the valuation date and arises where a person owns a residential property on the liability date which is 1 May 2013 for the year 2013 and, for subsequent years, 1 November in the preceding year (that is, the liability date for 2014 is 1 November 2013). Properties valued up to €1 million are organised into valuation bands, with an initial band of €0 to €100,000 and 18 bands from €100,001 to €1 million with a range of €50,000 in each band. Liability is calculated using the mid-point of the appropriate band. For properties valued in excess of €1 million, liability is calculated using the actual chargeable value.

It is therefore not possible to outline the exact LPT and NPPR Charge liability for 2013 for an individual who owns a second home without knowing the chargeable value of the properties.

The inter-Departmental Group chaired by Dr Don Thornhill on the design of a property tax (the “Thornhill Group”) recommended that the NPPR Charge should be absorbed into the LPT as a separate supplemental tax, in addition to the LPT at the standard level applying to non-principal private residences. The Government did not accept this recommendation. The NPPR Charge will be collected in 2013, when a half-year LPT applies, but will be discontinued thereafter. The Government decided to extend the NPPR Charge into 2013 to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for local authorities pending the introduction of the full LPT.